Bishop & Sewell and Monro Wright & Wasbrough have announced their merger, as part of Bishop & Sewell’s planned expansion strategy.

Leading law firms Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Shearman & Sterling have joined the legal client list of Rare, the specialist graduate diversity recruitment company.

In an unprecedented day of action, hundreds of barristers and solicitors have marched on Westminster today, railing against Chris Grayling's recent confirmation that £215 million will be shaved from the criminal legal aid bill.

It’s been a bad week for Facebook, with news that 50 million of its US users may have had their data mined and misused, with Facebook’s knowledge. Zuckerberg has finally come out and made a statement about how sorry the company is about the whole debacle, but advertisers are demanding that Facebook change its ways. Could this be the catalyst for a sea change at the social media giant? For other commercially interesting topics, read on.

Details of the 22nd UK Pro Bono Week have been revealed, with the focus on bringing legal professionals together to make a sustained impact around three cross-cutting themes.

The government has announced its ‘triple lock’ plan, which enables students to either accept the grade they receive, create an appeal to get a valid mock result, or sit their exams in autumn.

It’s been a rough week: Glastonbury is over for another year, England’s Lionesses were knocked out of the World Cup by the USA and to top it all off, Facebook and Instagram have been hit with a glitch that prevents images from loading on the social media sites.

The winner of the 27^th Bar Mock Trials National Competition final which took place last month is Wilmslow High School in Cheshire.

The Law Society of England and Wales Annual Statistics Report 2015 provides an in-depth breakdown of the numbers, location and gender make-up of training contacts in the 12 months to July 2015.

Herbert Smith Freehills has announced a new internship programme offering graduates with autism a chance to work at the firm for eight weeks.

The regulatory arm of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives is examining whether its processes can be streamlined to help more paralegals make the jump to become chartered legal executives – specialist lawyers capable of setting up their own firms and working independently.

In the wake of recent discussion over whether to implement aptitude tests for postgraduate law courses, the chair of the Bar Standards Board Baroness Deech has said that many who take the BPTC are "wasting their money" because they are "not up to it".

A new MA in Law degree is being offered by the University of Law in partnership with the University of Chester’s Law School. The two institutions announced the collaboration in December, with the MA in Law open to non-law graduates from September 2020.

Bradford law courts to be one of the first in England to be heated with renewable energy. The courts will be connected to the city’s new eco network, after signing a 20-year deal with Bradford Energy Network. The Combined Court Centre and the Magistrates’ Court are set to save 8,000 tonnes of carbon as a result of the new heat network, which is on track to open in 2026.

What with the sadness of last night’s World Cup defeat, the arrival today of the Donald, and the chaos surrounding this week’s government resignations and non-existent Brexit strategy, you could be forgiven for thinking that there’s really no reason to carry on. Don’t give up! There remain many reasons to be cheerful, not least the prospect of a fulfilling legal career. To help you make that a reality by boosting your commercial acumen, read this week’s selection of business news stories.

Barristers are taking more risks as a result of commercial pressures, while some senior barristers may be abusing their power over women, pupils and junior barristers, the Bar Standards Board has found.

The legal profession is facing a new challenge as leading barristers defy Bar rules by pledging not to prosecute peaceful climate protesters or represent companies involved in fossil fuel projects.